I confess, I have a new obsession called “logo quiz.” It all started last Friday night when I was out at dinner with family. We had just finished up and all of a sudden my brother-in-law picked up my husband’s sunglasses and started examining them. A couple seconds later he was playing with his phone and was lost “in the zone.” It wasn’t until five minutes later that he actually returned to the conversation at the table and let us in on what he was doing. He was playing “logo quiz” and the logo on my husband’s glasses was one of the ones that had stumped him, so now he had the answer. I was curious, so as soon as we got home I downloaded the app and I was quickly addicted. It is a little something fun for the designer in me and it’s challenging. Now whenever I am out, I am looking at every sign we pass or when we watch tv, I keep my eyes peeled for any of the ones that have been keeping me stumped. All this logo fun got me to thinking, what elements are required to create a great logo? What is it that keeps these particular logos emblazoned in our brains and why are we able to recognize what they are even when we are seeing only part of the logo?
So I started by going to wikipedia and looking up the definition of logo. According to them:
“A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. Logos are either purely graphic (symbols/icons) or are composed of the name of the organization (a logotype or wordmark).”
But just a symbol or logotype isn’t what makes a logo great. There are plenty of logos out there that none of us would recognize if asked. There is more to it. A great logo is more than just art. A logo is the visual representation of the core of your company. It must be easily recognized and synonymous with the way consumers view your business. A logo needs to have a concept or meaning behind it. It needs to communicate a message.
So how do you make a logo great? There is no right or wrong way to make sure your logo communicates the most effective image for your business, but here are five basic principles to keep in mind.
Simplicity.
Less is more when it comes to logo design. Don’t overcrowd the design of your logo with useless details, aim for something simple and stylish. This is what will make it easy to remember and imagine, especially if it goes along with a memorable slogan. A simple design will make an immediate impact, as the human brain is more open to fewer details and a direct message.
Be memorable & engaging.
Distinctive features are necessary to create a logo that is memorable. Customers don’t have much time. You want to provide them with an easy-to-remember, unique symbol to help them quickly associate with your business. By creating a visual statement you engage the audience. Memorable can mean using vivid colors, illustrative elements or an optical illusion. When viewing a logo your audience should instantly recognize it, interpret the message and distinguish you from others in the industry, more importantly, they should remember you.
Be timeless.
Being simple and memorable will make your logo satisfy yet another principle of effective logo design – being timeless. Yes, logos have to stop aging in time and should not belong to a certain period of time, unless that period is epic for reason related to your brand. In order to stand the test of time, a good logo should beat the trends, hence lasting for more than a year would be quite an achievement. Trends come and go – good logos are timeless.
Versatile.
An effective logo should be capable of adapting to different environments, or capable of many uses. Whether it’s used as a small thumbnail or in a huge poster, on television or on a printed newspaper, your logo should look good on all of them. Carefully pick colors, design your logo in black and white if needed first, in order to make sure the shapes and the fonts are right, then pick the needed colors so that it will look good on different backgrounds when needed. The logo should be functional. For this reason a logo should be designed in vectorformat, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo should also be able to work both in horizontal and vertical formats.
Appropriate.
In the end relevancy is what’s important, though it is not a general rule followed by all the designers out there. Designing a logo, let’s say for a medical company, hence representing a medical kit on it is already outdated, unless your logo stands out by having that “something” that other logos intended for medicine don’t have. Design a logo that would be appreciated by the target audience of the company but watch out for being too cliché (like a compass or globe business consultants), guess what the client wants by researching the field thoroughly, anticipating what people expect to think and feel when they will see the logo you designed.
~ Bethany Howell, art director
2 Comments
Very nice put together what a logo should be.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed our article!